Posted on 08/03/2011 6:22:45 AM PDT by marktwain
In Meatloaf’s Paradise by the Dashboard Light, the hormone-crazed singer’s girlfriend won’t let him score a home run until and unless he promises to love her forever. His initial response: “Let me sleep on it. Baby baby let me sleep on it. Let me sleep on it, I’ll give you my answer in the morning.” When it comes to providing your version of events to the police after a defensive gun use (DGU), same answer. Do NOT submit to a police interview until at least 24 hours later. Say “My life was in danger.” Then STFU, contact your lawyer and put some time between the incident and your official statement or interview. How important is this? Let’s check in with our friends at the Chicago Police Department via an email blast from the Force Science Institute . . .
Late last year the IPRA ( Independent Police Review Authority) asserted that under the city’s contract with the FOP (Fraternal Order of Police) it had the right to compel an involved officer to give an official recorded interview within 2 hours of a shooting, regardless of the officer’s level of stress or sleep deprivation. FOP president Mike Shields characterized this as a “uniquely incorrect position” and pushed the matter to arbitration.Recently arbitrator Peter Feuille ruled that unless an officer wants to talk sooner the IPRA must wait at least 24 hours after a shooting before its investigators can conduct a detailed interview and that the questioning can occur only between 0600 and 1800. If a shooting occurred at 7 pm, for example, at least 35 hours would then elapse before the interview is required .
FOP attorney Paul Geiger told Force Science News: “This gives the officer a chance to rest through 1 sleep cycle, collect himself, and consult with an attorney during reasonable hours in order to give an accurate account of what happened.
“We are not against an officer talking to the IPRA under Garrity protection. We just want him to be able to give an informed, thoughtful statement. Given how hectic and emotional a shooting situation is, we think the rest period is important.”
Fair’s fair, right? If the cop’s union rep can secure a 24-hour recuperation period for his fraternal brothers and sisters after an Officer Involved Shooting (OIS), your lawyer should do everything in their power to get the same “courtesy” for you, should you experience a You Involved Shooting.
Which raises another key, related point: after a DGU, the police are not your friend. Even outside of the political hellhole of Chicago, where the police keep the right to bear arms to themselves, the cops are a world unto themselves. Even though you pay for it, it’s not your world.
As far as the legal system is concerned, the cops are the good guys. Always. You? You’re a suspect in a shooting. Check out the ‘tude inherent in the end of the Force Science blast:
Chicago is on track to nearly double the number of OISs in 2011 if the current rate continues. As of July 21 police have shot 40 suspects this year, nearly as many as in all of 2010. This is a mid-year high compared to the last 4 years. Aggravated assaults and batteries of officers by the end of June had already exceeded the year’s total for 2000.One OIS survivor, Ofcr. Danny O’Toole, who experienced 2 shootings in 2 weeks, told the Chicago Sun-Times: “The younger generation is brazen. They just don’t care.” FOP spokesman Pat Camden agreed. “There’s no fear of the police,” he said.
The newspaper noted: “No Chicago police officers have been charged with criminal wrongdoing involving shootings in recent memory.”
Good advice and always say you feared for your life.
“Do not give a statement to police until you have talked to your lawyer”.
I know some FReepers have suggested this over and over. I personally would rather be taken into custody and wait for my family to hire me a lawyer then to say something that could be twisted to hang me later. Goodness forbid that I ever have to shoot/kill someone to save my family but I would. Preparation or planning for such an event (that is, if it occurs Don’t say a Word) is never a bad idea. IMHO
Imagine the mayor giving a press conference saying "He was a good boy who was turning his life around" about the crook with a few extra holes in him in your living room.
Good article.
You may also say "I fired in the direction of the intruder" but avoid saying things like "I blew the s-o-b away".
The only thing to say to the police is that you want to speak with your attorney. Make no statements to the police except that.
Do not assume the police are out to get you, however, do not talk to them for an assortment of reasons.
1) It’s what you say. Courts are places where many words are distorted beyond recognition, but other words are safe for use. So an attorney, be they prosecutor or defense counsel, will instruct their witnesses to use the “words that work”.
An early reference to this was in Victorian England, when a policeman found a decapitated body on a bridge. He testified that he “saw a dead man”, but an attorney immediately lashed out at him, demanding, “Are you a doctor? Then how can you pronounce a man to be dead?” To which the officer changed his testimony, to assert that “He had discovered a gentleman who had been interfered with.”
2) It’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it. Information given to the police, and later in court, will be misinterpreted if it can be misinterpreted. So you cannot use conversational English. Instead you must be brief, even to the point of being taciturn. You must not volunteer information not asked for, nor include details that are not to the point. If what you say can be parsed, it might be, even to debating what the meaning of “is”, is.
3) Police, prosecutors, judges and juries can all become “emotionally invested” early in their part of the process. If this means they think you are innocent, they will fight to support that belief. But if it means they think you are guilty, they will equally fight to see you punished. Despite all evidence to the contrary.
Yeah, but that's so they can get their lies straight.
Bump
Excellent advice, especially in a liberal state with tough gun laws.
“I fired in the direction of the intruder” - WRONG
State you or loved one or those in your charge were in danger of grave bodily harm and/or death and posses a clear train of thought afterwords (most won’t).
Lawyer up - say nothing else. Repeat - say nothing.
Make sure the cops think you were in the right but I agree do not give a statement until you have a lawyer - no matter how hard they push.
Thanks for your service!!
LOL!!! Or try to avoid saying “He needed killing”
Don't Talk to Cops at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8z7NC5sgik
Part 1 a lawyer tells what can happen.
Part 2 a retired LEO tells what he has seen.
It has been around for a while, but still some excellent points about how innocent people make huge mistakes when they talk talk to cops.
An amateur talking to the pros is no contest and a no brainier.
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